Bi Orb 60 L - I Now Need Fish! Cold Water Tropicals ?

[mpreston]

Got a Bi Orb 60 yesterday, have set it all up and got the water testers to make sure my nitrate and nitrite levels become ok for the fish. I have decided upon cold water tropicals but want some suggestions on readily available fish types! Would love to have some colour! Nearest shops are water marque and maidenhead aquatics @ Wimborne. Was going to go with fantails but told to avoid them like the plague and stick to small tropicals suitable for room temp water!

Thanks a lot

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Goldfish are too large for a Bio-Orb

You might try some white cloud mountain minnows or a cold water fish of similar size. that is about all that will fit in a bio-orb

 

[fluttermoth]

I wouldn't put WCMM in a Biorb, Dieses. They're like zebra danios and need a fair bit of swimming room.

OP; you could have a few variatus platies, they do well in temperate tanks.

Will you be doing a proper fishless cycle, by adding ammonia to the tank?

 

[mpreston]

I have added the chemicals that came with the tank and bought some dip tester strips today and was told to wait until the nitrite and nitrate were both zero before adding fish! No one has mentioned ammonia... I assume I wait until the chemicals do their stuff!

 

[phoenixgsd]

unfortunatly you need to cycle the tank, have a read here http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/ you might also want to invest in a liquid test kit as the strips are very innacurate

 

[fluttermoth]

The chemicals you will have been given will be a dechlorinator and an alleged 'bottled bacteria' (well, that's what you get with most new tanks, anyway).

Unfortunately, most of them don't work and very few of us here have any faith in them.

Ammonia is vital, and you'll need a test kit for it. It's what fish excrete, directly; eventually, when your filter is cycled, it will hold bacteria that eat the ammonia and turn it first into nitrite, and then into nitrate.

If you're not adding a source of ammonia, either by putting fish in the tank (a 'fish'in cycle'; not recommended here, as it can lead to sick or dead fish) or by adding a small amount of household cleaning ammonia to replicate what will be produced by the fish (a 'fishless cycle'), there won't be anything for the bacteria to feed on, and they won't grow.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I wouldn't put WCMM in a Biorb, Dieses. They're like zebra danios and need a fair bit of swimming room.

OP; you could have a few variatus platies, they do well in temperate tanks.

Will you be doing a proper fishless cycle, by adding ammonia to the tank?

Thank you for the correction. I did not realize that they were zippy fish like Danios.

But on the same token as fluttermoth has said, platys are another good option